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Abstract:

The idle screen of a mobile telephone device is used to show updated
information of a kind or from a source selected by a user (e.g. financial
information, news, traffic etc.). Previously, the idle screen has been
used to display the name of the network operator and alerting messages,
such as "2 missed calls". Placing information of interest to the user in
the idle screen makes that information instantly accessible without the
user having to navigate to the required function (e.g. a micro-browser)
and select it.

Claims:

1. A mobile telephone device, the device being adapted to request updated
information from a remote information resource that is capable of also
supplying that updated information to other mobile telephone devices for
those devices to display within a browser application; characterized in
that the device is adapted to display the updated information (a) after
it has been defined by a user of the device to be of a kind which is of
interest to him or her and (b) as part or all of an idle screen and not
necessarily a browser application.

2. The mobile telephone device of claim 1 in which the information is
from a source selected by a user.

3. The mobile telephone device of claim 1 in which advertising and/or
sponsor messages are also displayed on the idle screen.

4. The mobile telephone device of claim 1 in which the remote information
resource providing the content is an internet site.

5. The mobile telephone device of claim 4 in which there are hyperlinks
in the updated information shown in the idle screen which are capable of
being navigated to and selected by the user.

7. The mobile telephone device of claim 1 in which alerting messages are
displayed in addition to the updated information or alternating with that
updated information.

8. The mobile telephone device of claim 1 in which the user is able to
select the frequency or schedule of updated information.

9. The mobile telephone device of claim 1 in which multiple information
resources are used with different priority settings.

10. The mobile telephone device of claim 1 in which the updated
information relates to one or more of the following: (a) financial
information; (b) sports information; (c) news information; (d) traffic
information; (e) weather information;

11. A method of supplying information for display on a mobile telephone
device, comprising the step of: (a) receiving a request for updated
information at a remote information resource; and (b) sending the updated
information from the resource; characterized that (i) a user of the
device defines the kind of updated information which is to be sent to the
device and (ii) the updated information is displayed as part or all of an
idle screen on the device and not necessarily a browser application.

12. Computer software suitable for enabling a mobile telephone device to:
(i) retrieve or receive, from a remote information resource, updated
information; and (ii) display that updated information on the device;
characterized that (i) a user of the device defines the kind of updated
information which is to be retrieved or received and (ii) the updated
information is displayed as part or all of an idle screen on the device
and not necessarily a browser application.

Description:

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.
10/451,500, which is the National Stage Entry of PCT/GB2001/05658, filed
Dec. 19, 2001, and which claims priority from British Application No. GB
0031477.3 filed on Dec. 22, 2000.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] This invention relates to a mobile telephone device with an idle
screen. The term `mobile telephone device` refers to any kind of small
screen (e.g. A5 size or less) portable electronic device with voice
communications capabilities, including radio telephones, smart phones,
communicators and wireless information devices. The term `idle screen`
refers to the default screen displayed when the mobile telephone device
is switched on and therefore capable of receiving a voice call. The idle
screen is the screen which is displayed when the user is not navigating
to a particular function, nor actively using a particular application,
such as a contacts application, or a messaging application. Personal
computers have no equivalent to an idle screen.

[0004] 2. Description of the Prior Art

[0005] One of the problems facing the designers of mobile telephone
devices is how to allow the user to access data and activate a desired
function. Conventionally, the small display size (i.e. under A5 size)
associated with a mobile telephone device has meant that functions need
to be layered into multiple hierarchies: the interface can be thought of
as having many layers, with the user having to first locate the correct
top level function and then, within that function, progressively drill
down (sometimes through 3 or more layers) to reach the target function.
Finally, the user has to select an appropriate option to actually
complete the required task. Navigating through multiple levels and
performing numerous selections of various options can be both confusing
and tedious for a user; often used functions can be rendered
inconveniently inaccessible.

[0006] As an example, many mobile telephone devices now have internet WAP
access to retrieve information from remote information sources; a WAP
micro-browser currently typically enables simplified, text only WAP pages
or `cards` to be viewed. Reading WAP information on a mobile telephone
device typically involves however the following multi-stage navigation
process: (i) turn the client device on; (ii) view an idle screen; (iii)
navigate from the idle screen to open the appropriate application (e.g. a
micro-browser); (iv) select the required resource (e.g. open a particular
WAP page); (v) enter a password and username; (vi) select the required
information; (vii) wait for the download; and finally (viii) view the
required information. This process is sufficiently slow and complicated
to be unattractive to many users, especially the non-computer literate
users to whom mobile telephone devices are particularly aimed.

[0007] Various attempts at improving menu accessibility by making more
efficient use of the available screen `real estate` have been proposed.
For example, EP 891066 to Nokia Mobile Phones Ltd. teaches the approach
of placing the most used functions in a mobile telephone into a
particular menu list of the most commonly used functions. Hence, a user
has to navigate first to the menu list of the most used functions, then
select from within that list the required function. This saves the user
having to navigate through potentially many more layers of the menu
system to find and select the required function.

[0008] It will be appreciated that the field of Personal Computer (`PC`)
user interaction design is non-analogous to mobile telephone device user
interaction design because a PC has a far larger screen size; hence,
multiple application windows or their associated icons can be
simultaneously displayed. Navigating between these windows/icons is
generally a straightforward process of moving a mouse controlled cursor
to the applicable window/icon. The user interaction designer working in
the mobile telephone field however has a far more constraining
environment to work within because of the very limited screen size.
Another reason why mobile telephone device user interaction design is
fundamentally different from that of PC user interaction design is that
there is no equivalent to the idle screen in a PC.

[0009] Although the closest PC arts are non-analogous for the reasons
given above, we note for completeness that in the PC domain, it is known
to have a customisable web browser bar that a user can program to show
information of interest to that user (e.g. a news ticker; a stock quote
ticker etc.). But even here, a user still needs to (i) turn the client
device on; (ii) view a startup screen; and (iii) progress from the
start-up screen to open the browser application. If the browser has a
permanent internet connection, a user may keep the browser application
open, with the browser bar visible somewhere in the PC screen or readily
selectable. But invariably the bulk of the screen will be occupied not
with the small browser bar (with user selected information categories)
but with one or more windows running applications (e.g. a word processing
application etc.), exploiting the large screen size.

[0010] Reference may also be made to Phone.com EP 1043905, which shows
using the idle screen of a mobile telephone to display adverts and other
information selected and sent by the network provider, but not
information of a kind selected by the user. Geoworks WO 00/77979 shows
using a mobile telephone to display adverts, but not on an idle screen
and not information of a kind selected by the user. Hence, this prior art
fails to show the idea of using the idle screen to display updated (e.g.
WAP pulled) information of a kind selected by the user.

[0011] On a more theoretical basis, an effective user interface enables
the user to comprehend the changing internal status of the mobile
telephone device as navigation proceeds. For example, to select or
initiate a function (e.g. to open an address book function, enter a PIN
security number or to alter the ring melody) a user has to understand (a)
how to navigate to that function in order to select that function and (b)
that the status of the telephone is such that the function can be
selected or initiated. The technical problem of effectively enabling the
internal state of the mobile telephone device to enable a user to view
information from a remote resource without having to perform multiple
navigation steps has to date been inadequately addressed.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

[0012] According to the invention, there is provided a mobile telephone
device, the device being adapted to display, as part or all of an idle
screen, updated information which is (a) defined by a user of the device
to be of a kind which is of interest to him or her and is (b) supplied to
the device from a remote information resource.

[0013] Hence, the fundamental insight of this invention is to use the idle
screen of the mobile telephone device to show updated information
obtained from a remote information source, in which the information is of
a kind selected by the user (and not by an advertiser or network
operator, as in the closest prior art). The information can be content
such as financial information, news, traffic etc. pushed from the network
operator. The information may also be from a resource selected by a user
(e.g. from a particular internet portal which the user selects; specific
kinds of content from that portal will also usually also be selected). A
`remote information resource` contains information of interest to a
potentially large number of users and is remotely accessible over a
wireless connection. Web and WAP sites are examples of remote information
resources.

[0014] Previously, the idle screen has primarily been used solely to
display the name of the network operator and alerting messages, such as
`2 missed calls`, or other kinds of information selected, not by the
user, but by an advertiser or network operator. Placing remotely sourced,
updated information of interest to the user in the idle screen makes that
information instantly accessible without the user having to navigate to
the required application (e.g. a micro-browser), open that application
(which may require a username and password) navigate to the required
information and wait for it to download.

[0015] The value of the idle screen as a piece of screen `real estate`,
immediately visible to a user, has not been capitalized on previously. By
making the idle screen an intrinsically interesting and very frequently
viewed screen, its value as a sponsorship and advertising platform is
greatly enhanced. Hence, the sale of advertising and sponsor message
occupancy on the idle screen is possible.

[0016] In one implementation, the remote information resource providing
the content is an internet site, such as, but not limited to, a WAP site.
Hyperlinks in the updated information shown in the idle screen can be
navigated to. In addition to WAP content in WML format, content may also
be provided by messages, including smart messages such as BioMessages®
from Symbian Limited of the United Kingdom.

[0017] The user may directly select the remote information resource by,
for example, navigating to an internet site and defining elements of that
site to appear in the idle screen. The user may also indirectly select
the remote information resource by setting or agreeing to certain kinds
of default profiles; for example, if a user selects a `shopping` profile,
then location specific information relating to nearby shops (e.g. special
offers etc.) or links to nearby taxi firms or indeed nearby taxis could
be pushed to the user's device to appear automatically in the idle screen
of the user's mobile telephone device.

[0018] Preferably, alerting messages (e.g. "1 missed call") are displayed
in addition to the updated information or alternating, possibly every few
seconds, with that updated information.

[0019] Additional features may include the following:

[0020] The user
being able to select the frequency or schedule of updated information;
Updates can also be sent whenever a change to the content occurs. Having
information pushed to the device in these ways means that the information
shown on the idle screen is always reasonably up to date and the user
does not need to wait for a download whenever he or she wishes to view
reasonably current information.

[0021] Multiple information resources may
be used with different priority settings; for example the idle screen may
normally simply show information from a general news feed, but when a
local traffic alert is issued, that can take priority over the general
news information and be displayed in its place or together with the
general news feed.

[0022] In another aspect of the invention, there is a method of supplying
information for display on a mobile telephone device, comprising the step
of sending from a remote information resource updated information defined
by a user of the device to be of a kind which is of interest to him or
her, in which the information is subsequently displayed on an idle screen
of the device.

[0023] A further aspect of the invention is a remote information resource
adapted to be suitable for supplying information as defined in the method
of supplying information defined in the preceding paragraph.

[0024] Another aspect of the invention is computer software suitable for
enabling a mobile telephone device to:

[0025] (i) retrieve or receive,
from a remote information resource, information defined by a user of the
device to be of a kind which is of interest to him or her;

[0026] (ii)
display that information on an idle screen of the device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0027] The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying
drawings, in which:

[0028] FIGS. 1-4 are screen shots showing how a web site can be accessed
to set up automatic updating of information to a mobile telephone device
as envisaged in the present invention;

[0029] FIGS. 5-10B are schematic images showing a mobile telephone device
with screen showing the various stages involved in using a system
envisaged in the present invention.

[0032] FIGS. 13A and 13B are schematic flow charts of a message based
implementation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] The present invention will be described with reference to an
implementation called Active Idle® from Symbian Limited of the United
Kingdom; Active Idle allows a user to select WAP derived data to be
pushed to his or her mobile telephone device and displayed as the idle
screen, or as part of the idle screen. Active Idle can also be used not
only for WAP but also 2.5G and 3G systems.

[0034] WAP is often sold on its ability to deliver a specific type of
commodity: small chunks of frequently-changing information, such as
sports scores, stock prices, flight status bulletins, cinema listings,
news, weather forecasts, etc. As noted above, it is unfortunate therefore
that getting at this information should conventionally require the user
to delve through menus, open an application, enter a username and
password and wait for a download.

[0035] With Active Idle, mobile telephone devices support embedding a
scheduled-update WAP page, or content delivered via smart messages (such
as Bio Messages), within the default or idle screen. Active Idle
therefore provides user-selected key information at a glance, without
requiring user actions, and without interrupting the user with alerts.

[0036] There are two main elements to setting up the idle screen in Active
Idle:

[0037] Selecting the information itself. While the user could select an
existing WAP page as the idle screen, formatting problems, ad-junk, and
the fact that the user might want information from disparate sources
means that a customized page would typically be better. Portal companies
like Yahoo!, AvantGo, mViva, MSN etc. may therefore allow tailoring of
content to an appropriate format. Tailoring content would also involve
setting the update schedules.

[0038] Setting the page as the idle screen. This could be done either by
the user specifying a URL on the device, or via smart message setup.

[0039] The information delivery and display then practically runs itself,
with only optional interventions from the user.

Example

[0040] This example shows how the availability of an Active Idle screen
might be exploited by Yahoo! over WAP: the service is called the Y!
mobile Agent. The illustrated implementation is hypothetical only and
should not be construed as implying that any such service is in fact
available from or otherwise supported by Yahoo!.

[0041] 1. The user
logs into My Yahoo! on his/her PC as shown in FIG. 1. Configuration could
also be done via the mobile telephone device. For brevity, the term
`mobile telephone device` may be shortened to `device` in this
specification.

[0042] 2. The user selects the option for setting up the
Yahoo! mobile agent, as shown in FIG. 2.

[0043] 3. A setup screen
informed by the user's existing My Yahoo! preferences allows the user to
specify what is visible in the `agent` or idle page, as shown in FIG. 3.

[0049] 7.
Various processes are carried out and then the user gets the first
delivery, as shown in FIG. 7.

[0050] The content includes branding
elements. Apart from displaying the content, the device functions exactly
as before.

[0051] 8. The update schedule is every 20 minutes, but the
user can force an update at any time by using the device menu as shown in
FIG. 8A, with an updated result being shown at FIG. 8B.

[0052] 9. On
match days, the soccer scoreboard component becomes active, as shown in
FIG. 9. Updates could be pushed whenever there is a change.

[0053] 10. If
the content list is too long for the display area, the up and down arrow
keys can be used even when the keypad lock is on as shown in FIG. 10A and
FIG. 10B. This would require the device to ignore the keypress once an
extremity of the list is reached, to prevent powerdrain if e.g. a key is
pressed in a bag.

[0054] Many other mechanisms are possible; in the following sections, we
describe implementations for:

[0055] WAP/Web pull

[0056] WAP Push

[0057] Other message-based system, such as BIOmes sages.

[0058] These implementations are built using the Symbian OS® platform
from Symbian Limited of the United Kingdom. The Symbian OS platform is
widely used for applications for mobile telephone devices. Software
development kits and other development resources are readily available
for the Symbian platform.

1. WAP/Web `Pull` Model

[0059] This section describes the components, overall flow, and detailed
flow of the updating process for the WAP/Web `pull` model. This is where
the content displayed as part of Active Idle is a normal Web or Wap page
which is `pulled` by the device at times dictated by an update schedule
and then displayed in the idle screen.

[0061] Idle Screen Application (ISA): this is the application or
collection of software components which controls the idle screen as a
whole (including any other functionality beyond Active Idle and other
information displayed etc.). The details of how this application
component works are beyond the scope of this document

[0063] Timer & Schedule Manager (TSM): this component stores information
about the update schedule set by the user, and operates a timer service
based on this schedule information which counts down until the next
update is due.

[0064] Active Idle Screen Manager (AISM): This component acts on input
from the user and the TSM to initiate updates of the Active Idle screen
content, commissions downloads of content from the DDCCs (see below),
stores downloaded content, and passes downloaded content to the Idle
Screen Application.

[0065] Device data communications components (DDCCs): software and
hardware components in the device pertaining to establishing data calls
and data connections with remote devices, maintaining those calls and
connections, exchanging data with remote devices across those
connections, and closing calls and connections. These components also
store information about user identity and password(s) for dial-in
services. The details of how these components work in themselves are
beyond the scope of this document.

[0067] 1. The user contacts content provider using the device (typically
through Web or WAP browser software) (step 1101) and determines content
s/he desires to be shown in the idle screen (step 1102). This could be an
existing web or, more appropriately on a small screen, WAP page. Or
alternatively it could be a Web/WAP page generated according to the
user's specified preferences for different sorts of information (e.g.
sports results, cookery, news headlines). Services such as My Yahoo!
Already offer this functionality for Web browsers.

[0068] 2. The user
instructs the device to set the current page as the Active Idle screen
page, and sets the update schedule (e.g. `Update every hour`, or `Update
at 9 am`) (step 1103).

[0070] Further updates of this content take place by the device
automatically connecting to the server and retrieving the content
according to the user's chosen schedule.

Mechanisms involved in an update (FIG. 11B):

[0071] 1. An update can be
initiated by either:

[0072] a. the user instructing the device to update
now, by using controls (e.g. a menu option) on the device (step 1105).
(This kind of update could be called "Forced update".)

[0073] b. the TSM
instructing the AISM that it is time to update the content (step 1106).

[0074] 2. Once an update is initiated, the AISM (step 1108) instructs the
Device Data Communications Components to initiate a connection to the
server and retrieve the content associated with the page address stored
by the AISM (steps 1110 and 1111).

[0075] 3. The DDCCs retrieve the
appropriate content and return it to the AISM (steps 1110 and 1111).

[0076] 4. The AISM stores the content and passes it to the Idle Screen
Application specifying that the old content should be disregarded and the
new content should be displayed in the Idle screen (step 1108).

[0078] The flow and mechanism are illustrated schematically in FIGS. 11A
and 11B.

2. WAP-Push Model

[0079] This section describes the components, overall flow, and detailed
flow of the updating process for an Active Idle screen based on a system
using WAP `push`.

Components:

[0080] Idle Screen Application (ISA): this is the application or
collection of software components which controls the idle screen as a
whole (including any other functionality beyond Active Idle and other
information displayed such as battery strength etc.). The details of how
this application component works are beyond the scope of this document.

[0084] Device data communications components (DDCCs): software and
hardware components in the device pertaining to establishing data calls
and data connections with remote devices, maintaining those calls and
connections, exchanging data with remote devices across those
connections, and closing calls and connections. These components also
store information about user identity and password(s) for dial-in
services. The details of how these components work in themselves are
beyond the scope of this document.

[0087] 1. User contacts content provider using the device (typically
through a Wap browser software on the device) (step 1201), and determines
content s/he desires to be shown in the idle screen (e.g. by
`subscribing` to a page, site or information service and specifying that
this should be displayed in the device idle screen) (step 1202).

[0088]
2. As part of the user's selection on the content provider's site, the
user optionally sets the update schedule (e.g. `Update every hour`, or
`Update at 9 am` for news of prices of the user's share holdings). The
user then configures the device to accept "push" information from the
content provider (step 1203).

[0089] 3. The server then sends messages to
the device identified as a `push notification` message type informing the
device that there is new content waiting for download (steps 1204, 1206,
1207).

[0090] 4. The Push message watcher (1208) checks that the message
comes from a server the user has `subscribed` to. If it does, it
instructs the device communications components to initiate a connection
and retrieve the new content from the content provider server (1209).

[0091] 5. The content is then passed to the Active Idle screen manager,
which then passes it to the Idle screen application for incorporation
within the display (1205, 1210-1212).

[0092] The flow and mechanism are illustrated schematically in FIGS. 12A
and 12B.

3. Message-Based Model

[0093] This section describes the components, overall flow, and detailed
flow of the updating process for an Active Idle screen based on a system
of messages being sent to the device.

Components:

[0094] Idle Screen Application (ISA): this is the application or
collection of software components which controls the idle screen as a
whole (including any other functionality beyond Active Idle and other
information displayed etc.). The details of how this application
component works are beyond the scope of this document.

[0097] Message watcher: a component which identifies the `type` of each
message coming onto the device by standard message transports and
processes it accordingly.

[0098] Device data communications components (DDCCs): software and
hardware components in the device pertaining to establishing data calls
and data connections with remote devices, maintaining those calls and
connections, exchanging data with remote devices across those
connections, and closing calls and connections. These components also
store information about user identity and password(s) for dial-in
services. The details of how these components work in themselves are
beyond the scope of this document.

[0100] 1. User contacts content provider using the device (typically
through Web or Wap browser software) or another means (e.g. through a
browser on a desktop computer) (1301), and determines content s/he
desires to be shown in the idle screen (1302). This could typically be by
ticking boxes to indicate interests at a large content site. Many
information service providers already provide services which deliver
messages over SMS containing user-selected content (such as share price
news) (1303, 1304).

[0101] 2. As part of the user's configuration on the
content provider's site, the user sets the update schedule (e.g. `Update
every hour`, or `Update at 9 am` for news prices of the user's share
holdings).

[0102] 3. The server then sends messages to the device
identified as an `Active Idle` message type, containing the content
(1305, 1306-1307).

[0103] 4. The Message watcher (1308) recognizes the
message as containing content for display in the idle screen and passes
the message to the Active Idle Screen Manager (1309).

[0104] 5. The
content is then passed to the Idle screen application for incorporation
within the display (1310-1311).

[0105] Note that this is not a secure model, since any message of the
right type will be displayed in the device idle screen. A secure version
could be implemented, where a key is given to the content provider to be
used to identify itself as a trusted content provider. Messages without
the key would be ignored, and the user could revoke the key at any time
to remove the content provider from the group of trusted information
services.

[0106] The flow and mechanism are illustrated schematically in FIGS. 13A
and 13B.

Extensions of Concept

[0107] The following are extensions to the Active Idle implementation:

[0108] Links could be incorporated in the page. They would be opened by,
for example, selecting (via scroll control) and using a menu command or
pressing `the device's Send` key.

[0109] A large amount of content could
be delivered and displayed via a `self-scrolling loop`, like a vertically
scrolling ticker on the page.

[0110] Services could provide information
based on the user's locale. This could mean, for example, that the user
always had a link for a local taxi firm available on the device idle
screen.

[0111] Implementing this using a message-based system would allow
companies currently supplying information via SMS to do so in a way that
was less intrusive to the users.

[0112] If the user is playing a
multi-player game on the mobile telephone device, then game status and
move information could be included in the idle screen;

[0113] If the
mobile telephone device is also a music download platform (e.g. downloads
from mp3 music sites or is a digital radio receiver), then information in
the idle screen can relate to the currently played music track (e.g.
artist information, track information, concert dates, links to e-commerce
functionality such as buying CDs).

[0114] The information in the idle
screen can also be location specific information, where the device is
displaying information available about, or even (say, via radio
communication such as Bluetooth) available in, the user's local
environment. Examples include the following:

[0115] Timetable
information at train stations or airports

[0116] Information on historic
monuments or museum exhibits the user is standing near